Cherai Beach

So last night we went to see some tradional Kerala dancing which is not really my thing at all and were gonna leave halfway after the best parts were over, but surprise, surprise it wasn't bad and i actually stayed till the end. Just love watching these South Indians bobbing their heads from side to side and all.

No rain on this day so we decided to take a day trip down to Cherai beach as my tan needed some topping up after my shower. We hired a rickshaw for the day and had a fantastic driver, when the Indians hear you are South African all they want to do is talk about cricket which is fine by me. They are so passionate and their lack of language is made up by colourful facial expressions and head bobbing (love it).

Cherai beach was not all that it could have been. There's been a lot of rain here and they were experiencing a very high tide, so no swimming on the rocky beach as it was pretty dangerous even for a Baywatch veteran as myself.

Memories of Mauritius soon came flooding back to me as the local men found out about this white female lying on the beach. All taking turns to come and stare, young and old, eyes almost bursting out the sockets. I had to put a stop to this, getting seriously bleak. One guy was taking the mick so i told him where to go, in the most polite way i could muster at that point.

The drive back was just as enjoyable, you can take in so many sights and sounds on a rickshaw and this guy was willing to stop whenever we wanted to take a photo. We saw a large male Elephant on his way to temple walking down the road. This is very strange as everyone just carries on as per normal. This nation really do have wild animals in their backyard unlike the rest of the world believe us Africans do.

On our way back in Fort Cochin we stopped off in the local bazaar to get Celia a sari, i splurged on the most expensive one there, a whole 900 Rupee. Celia chose while i got malayed by mozzies coming out of the infested drains, it was worth it. The sari is beautiful and im sure Celia will look lovely in it.

The rain in Kerala...

So we've been in Kochi for the most of a day and we've been fortunayte enough to be stuck in major storms which is why i am on the internet again. It's either that or Bollywood movies in the hotel room.

Just a quick one: Asking Celia this morning what the exchange rate is from the pound to the rupee, she says and this is not a lie... " 31 pounds will get you 2500 rupees", I still look at her in disbelief. You would expect someone to say "1 to 10 or 1 to 270..." but her answer was special enough to add to this blog...

Yogya

We arrived in Yogyakarta after a crazy 6 hour travel journey (minibus ride). The area where we stayed, Marlioboro, is a street of batic stalls, street vendors and sidewalk eateries Indo style.

We found a nicish hotel, but again, as always in Indo, it required lots of haggling. It was still overpriced in my opinion, but we were both too tired to care. Hardest thing in the world is to find a restaurant that serves beer in an Islamic dominated city. Celia and i walked the streets flat looking for that elusive Bintang to quench our thirst. We eventually ended up back at our hotel and smashed a couple in record time.

Can't really remember what we did on the second day there, but a lot of our time is often spent trying to get flights to our next destination or try sort out odds and ends, Internet, blah blah. Very time consuming. I'm glad people actually read this. Oh yes.... we went to pizza hut for lunch. A nice change from nasi (rice) but as usual we ordered too much and totally stuffed our faces swearing to never go back there again. Pizzas these days are hilarious, you get a thick based pizza which obv. has melted cheeze on top, a base which contains cheese and these cheese finger type things around the edges loaded with extra cheese... (Borat: What is this.....???)

The evening ends up with a trip to the Sultans palace and the bird market. Apparently the Yogya people are very proud of their pet birds. The cages and local birds are very beautiful, some people also sold exotic reptiles and mammals - not sure how legal it is, but it made for some interesting photos. When we got back to the hotel room i turned on to one of the very few English channels we have there and was treated to one of the worst movies i have ever seen - "Frankenfish", can somebody please hire it one day, pleeeaaaaassseeee??

We end up at Bourbadour (think that's how one spells it) on the last day which is the biggest Buddhist temple in the world, yes you heard it, the world! It's a registered world heritage site and looks truly impressive from afar, just as the pyramids do, but when you get on it there's not too much to it if you don't really understand Buddism and all that. Sorry to sound so uneducated... i will try read up on it at a later stage.... NAAAAAATTTT!

One really funny moment, you had to be there though, was when our Indonesian driver was trying to call these passengers in the bus, they never heard him, so he shouted "Hey Japanese..." Was rolling off my chair laughing, only in Asia could someone get away with that.

Evening arrived and we set off on our 8 hour (supposedly) train journey to Jakarta Executif class. I am writing this now so we did survive the bumpy ride home, but oh my word...

Anyway I love Singapore airport..

Nerves!!!

The two women at the reception are from the Compassion project and are as nervous as we are. It is the first time anyone has come to visit their sponsored child in this area. apparently the translator was up all night practising English dialog.

The hired car drops us off at the families home, i am first out the car, and there is a wierd moment as I greet the mother as we cannot realyl communicate in English or Indonesian. The father, the grandparents and the lovely Kathryn all come out of the house (it's still wierd).

Kathryn was very nervous and she has a cute little 5 year old pout on her, refusing to smile :) The morning went really well, they made is this fantastic Indonesian food, and we chatted (through the translator and the fathers broken English ) and played with their dog Manis and goats. The family dis seem to warm to us and i managed to make a frind for life by giving their 7 year old son a football and pump. We kicked it around all afternoon until the sweats got the better of me - not as young as i used to be.

They really are a fantastic family and are so thankful for our support through Compassion as it provides Kathryn as well as the family with benefits they would have never had :(

It's tough to say goodbye (you know me, i'm never good during these times), there's a chance will will never see the family again and we seem to already have a bond due to our support and love for their daughter. Its tough to see people in such need when you were brough up having so much more. All you can do is bless them with as much as possible.

We visited the Compassion project in the afternoon. This is where they feed the children, teach them and give them fun activities to do. They made a big fuss of us and even made us get up on stage for them. Once again i own the stage and that rendition of "I love you Jesus (deep down in my heart)" will be remebered longer than my rugged good looks and golden tan.

We get to spend the evening with the family at the arcade (without Gabriella the 14 year old daughter as she has to stay home with the grandparents). They have never been to a mall or arcade before which in itself is astounding, but knowing how much money they have is truly believable. The kids were in heaven, staying on the trin ride until the last millimeter of movement, playing the racing games and anyting they could fit a coin into. I played a couple of games of fussball with the dad and he loved it. Celia played air hockey with the mom and it seemed nobody wanted to leave but the kids needed to go to school in the morning so we went back to our hotel said some teary goodbyes and got some good sleep.

Compassion

What an experience! We flwe into Surabaya from Bali, having no real idea how to get to Blitar where we would visit one of our sponsored kids.

3 bus trips.. where you have to watch what the locals are paying so the conductor cannot charge you his own dream price, plus a trip on on the bicycle / rickshaw type taxis , poor guy had to cycle Celia plus a grumpy German and 150l of baggage. This all equals 6 hous to get to our lovely hotel. Not sure what day of the week it is, but Celia ensures me she took the pill that said Monday so therefore it is still the 22nd. We get a good noghts sleep as the following day we are going to visit Kathryn, one of out sponsored children.

3AM rugby - 10 AM surf

With Celia booked in for a 10Am surf lesson, sleep time was short. I finally mastered all the waves Kuta beach had throw at me that day so next time i am here i will venure out a little further above my category ( Kelly Slater you need not worry). Celias lesson went very well and i believe she has been converted. A couple more days of this before we head to Blitar in East Java will be just fine. Especially now that the hordes have gone home after Ramadan

World Champs!!!!

Having a pretty uneventful day by normal standards, but a pretty peachy day by Bali standards (surf; breakfast; beers; late lunch with beers; snooze; sunset with beers; dinner with beers ) Celia and I start talking up the the evenings rugby over a few more Bintangs. A few more later and a decision has been made where we will watch the 3AM kick off, we head to bed for a well earned power snooze.

The alarm goes, leaving me enough time to psyche Celia and myself up witha few "come on Bokke" and telling Celia about the time Jake White and I discussed rugby tactics after a Sharks game at Loftus. I put my pristine white away Springbok jersey and head for the bar on foot to Kups Corner. The game is an entirely tense affair with scoring oppotunities falling to both teams, but its the solid defense of the South Africans that pulls us through. A special mention must go out to Victor Matfield, Bakkies Botha, Butch James, \percy Montgomery and out Captain John Smit for allowing me the pleasure of seeing the irritatingly loud English we were watching the game with, walk out sans pride walk out before the end of the game!!